MONTREAL - Toronto native Gail Simmons has led the sort of tasting-menu and chef-hobnobbing-filled life most foodies only dream of. At the tender age of 35, the pixie-like brunette has worked for food luminaries like Vogue food-writer Jeffrey Steingarten, star chef Daniel Boulud, and Food & Wine editor Dana Cowin. Now as a judge on the U.S. version of the wildly popular Top Chef and as host of the spinoff, Top Chef: Just Desserts, Simmons is reaching the loftiest heights on the American food scene.

Yet Simmons’s rise to the top was one filled with hard work, long days and many challenges. And as she’s Canadian, add visa and green card hassles to that list.

Anyone interested even remotely in the current food scene, complete with passionate chefs, reality shows and trends ranging from molecular cuisine to reinvented comfort food, should pick up Simmons’s new book: Talking with My Mouth Full: My Life as a Professional Eater ($29.99, Hyperion, 2012).

Though 35 might be a bit young for an autobiography, this book recounts the rising star’s route to fame, including her early life in Toronto, her years at Montreal’s McGill University (class of ’98), her cooking-school experiences at New York’s Peter Kumps, working at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurant Vong, her stint as Steingarten assistant, her work with Boulud and her ultimate rise to the Top Chef family. And that’s only a small slice of her jet-setting, kimchee-nibbling lifestyle.

I met Simmons for a three-hour lunch at Lawrence, a restaurant she’d already been to (she’s enthusiastic and up on the Montreal restaurant scene). Over bowls of kale and mushroom soup and plates of beef tongue and profiteroles, we talked about what it takes to make a star chef (she’s friends with most of them), what snacks she brings home with her from Canada, and what she thinks about the Québécois food scene.

What’s rotting in the back of your home fridge right now?

Oh, God, a lot probably. I haven’t been home in weeks. Condiments and beer. I feel like a bachelor saying that but my husband hasn’t grocery shopped in my absence. I’d say a big hunk of Parmesan, yogourt, eggs, 17 bottles of mustard, fish sauce, maple syrup and three kinds of hot sauce: harissa, sriracha and sambal.

Who inspired you to cook?

A lot of people. But especially my mother and my aunt, Linda, who has been my mother’s best friend since they were 12. My mother’s kitchen was built to be the focal point of our house. I got into the kitchen often as a child.

What ingredient do you always have in your refrigerator?

Parmesan cheese, eggs, lemons and limes.

What snack food can you not live without?

Dark chocolate, and salt and vinegar chips are my weakness – but not together (laughs). Miss Vickie’s are my ultimate. I also like dill pickle flavoured rice cracker chips that are only sold in Canada. I hoard them and bring them back to the States.

Canadian and American drugstore chocolate bars of choice?

Mirage and Crunchy bars in Canada. Oh, and the best of them is Coffee Crisp. I have no favourite American chocolate bars.

What’s the one thing you always make at home?

Simple, simple clean food with a lot of vegetables. I cook mostly vegetarian vegetable and bean stews. Quinoa salads. I make my mother-in-law’s recipe for chicken and barley stew all the time.

If you could have dinner with someone from any time in history, who would they be?

I’ve had the privilege of meeting and eating with many people in the food world so I’d say Nelson Mandela and Michelle Obama, but not necessarily for the food angle. I’ve never met Jamie Oliver, someone who is my contemporary, who is using his fame and celebrity to do a lot of good. And his message is accessible, unlike people who speak about a message that cannot be attained.

The chef to watch right now is ...

So many … My job is to work with up-and-coming young chefs, so I cross their paths often. In New York I’d say Dan Kluger. He’s leading a style of cooking we should all be getting more into, that vegetables are a big part of the plate. He’s more approachable than Charlie Trotter and less preachy than Alice Waters. On the west coast, there’s Jordan Kahn of Red Medicine in Beverly Hills. He has a pastry chef style of plating that’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. He blurs the lines between pastry and savoury ingredients, which is so fascinating. It’s art backed up by a lot of skill. It’s not gimmicky at all but entirely his own. His knowledge of South Asian cuisine weaves into the food without making it solely “Asian.”

What does it take to make a chef a star chef?

Obviously, it takes being a great chef first. You can’t fake being able to cook well. You also must understand the business of cooking, marketing yourself, being multi-dimensional. It’s also important to understand the power of the consumer and to be honest with them.

What’s the difference in temperament that you see between a savoury chef and a pastry chef?

Pastry chefs are often relegated to the basement, so there’s an inferiority complex there. They’re mad scientists and magicians. They’re precise and meticulous, more organized and less dominant. They respect the sensitive nature of the ingredients. Pastry chefs are often better at savoury food than regular chefs are at sweet.

Considering all the eating you do and your slim physique, what are three things you do to cut back when you feel you might be putting on the pounds?

One, learn to taste and realize you don’t have to finish what’s on your plate. Two, move! Be active, and make exercise part of your daily routine. I don’t love working out, but I do it for myself. And three, eat a good breakfast with protein and fibre, like oatmeal with maple syrup, or eggs on greens.

You grew up in Canada. Do you think there is a vastly different food culture here than in the States?

Not vastly, it’s more subtle than that, especially right now. I’m often asked, “What’s Canadian cuisine?” And I think the cuisine of Canada is the cuisine of Quebec. The gutsiness of Quebec cuisine is what Canada is known for outside its borders. There’s an energy, a youthfulness, a liberation to the cooking here.

You have dined out a lot in Montreal. Do you think there is a real Quebec cuisine here?

Yes, which was not the case when I lived here when I was going to McGill. At the moment, Quebec is recognized for its cuisine as much as New Orleans, San Francisco, Chicago. There’s a new generation of young chefs taking the classic cuisine of this area and pushing it forward.

Is there buzz around Montreal?

Absolutely. All my friends in New York tell me Montreal is on their bucket list. And there’s so much being written about it. Chefs like David McMillan, Fred Morin, Martin Picard have done a great job. They’re ambassadors … lumberjack ambassadors.

What advice would you give to someone who desperately wants to get into the food writing world?

There are no shortcuts. Just because you like food doesn’t mean you can write about it with authority. Know your subject. Learn the language. You need to learn how to cook, know the history. Find a good mentor, someone you can learn from. And keep your mouth shut until they feed you.

And a young chef who wants his or her own cooking show?

Ask yourself what makes you different? What makes you great for TV? You need to learn to talk and cook at the same time. And your point of view must be broad enough to reach the masses.

Does the best man or woman win Top Chef, or is it the one who plays the game best?

It’s a game show! That’s the game. You have to be a good cook, but you can never tell who will win. It’s always someone who comes out of nowhere. One bad dish and a good chef can be kicked off. To make it, to become the best, you need to be competitive. It’s there, we just capitalize on it. In any industry you need to be competitive. It’s a cutthroat world.

Do you like the competitive aspect that now dominates food TV?

I don’t watch a lot of them except my own, and that’s because they make me. The kitchen is a competitive place where only the strong will survive. The competition shows are a direct reflection of that.

You have worked with some great food writers and chefs. Is there someone out there who you really consider your idol?

Many. My mentors – like Jeffrey Steingarten, Daniel Boulud, and Dana Cowin. Jamie Oliver for making cooking accessible and Michelle Obama for making food part of the public conversation. She led by example, whereas a lot of people just talk the talk.

What’s your one weakness as a cook?

Patience!

And your strength?

Curiosity, about people. Cooking is such a window into people’s lives, history, vulnerability and how they find pleasure.

When dining out, chances are you’ll order ...

Eggs, or anything with an egg on it.

The next big food trend is ...

I want to say vegetables as the main course and the meat as a side, which we’ve been saying for the past two years at Food & Wine. And Korean food as the next big Asian cuisine.

Advice to the beginner cook?

Read the recipe. Think of your final dish in a holistic way, and try to understand the “why,” the method and the purpose.

What annoys you in the kitchen?

Arrogance with respect to the food.

Your favourite food city?

In the world, Tokyo. And New York, where I live, as well as New Orleans, Los Angeles. All those cities have gotten so great.

If you could dine anywhere in the world tomorrow night and price were no object, where would that be?

At a restaurant in the Basque region, outside of San Sebastián, called Asador Etxebarri. The chef is a master of the grill, who has built all these incredible grill contraptions. He grills caviar, ice cream, but the cuisine is not molecular or modernist. I ate there once but I’ll go back because we didn’t have the time to linger … to eat more.

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